Peasant farmers unite to drive out Taliban

FOR years villagers in Ghazni province in Afghanistan were forced to endure a ban on music, nightly curfews and an occupying Taliban army. But when their schools were closed in April, they decided to fight back.

Villagers in the Andar district, a poor farming area about 100 miles south of the capital Kabul, started an anti-Taliban revolt. They formed militias to oust the insurgents and reopen schools and clinics.

The movement has spread through 38 villages, forming a “people’s militia” of 800 fighters that is said to control about 20% of the province.

The rebellion started after the Taliban closed schools in retaliation for a government decree banning unlicensed motorbikes, the rebels’ favoured form of transport.

For the people of Andar, who had lived in fear of the Taliban for a decade, this was intolerable. “We were really angry about this, especially the younger generation,” said Abdul Khalim, a 22-year-old